Sandra Bullock might not be the most scintillating actress on the market, but she's created a long career for herself by acting very sweet. She's got several movies in the pipeline for 2010, though she almost skipped her role in The Blind Side. There's a small rumor that she might now be up for an Oscar; though it's another year of slim-pickings in the women's category for Best Actress - and another great year for men. No surprises! Here's a few details of why Sandy almost skipped her headlining role, via ShowBiz Spy:
[Sandra Bullock almost didn't make her new movie The Blind Side - because she kept turning down the role! The Hollywood superstar -- who plays a wealthy woman who takes in a homeless teenager who goes on to play college football in the movie, based on on a novel by Michael Lewis -- admits she was worried about "messing up" the part.
"I don't even remember saying yes to the movie," Sandra revealed. "I kept turning it down. Not because I didn't like it, but because I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to make it the story that it deserves to be. I couldn't bring to the role what it needed. These are the kinds of roles that actresses can mess up, and that's one of the reasons I didn't want to step into it! I didn't know how to make it as good as the story. I'm glad I did it. It's still a scary thought for me. I don't know how I did it, but I had a lot of time to prepare for it."]
I admit that I'm a sucker for Sandra - her sweet nature won me over years ago. I was one of those popcorn-munching fans that enjoyed The Proposal and I always root for her in "real life" as well. However, I ran across an interesting article on Gawker/Defamer that raises a curious question - why is Bullock so famous? Check it out:
[She's made more bombs than the Krupp Arms Works and yet Hollywood keeps giving her the keys to its kingdom. This weekend, Sandra Bullock is back again in The Blind Side. When she burst into public consciousness, stealing the show in Speed 15 years ago, Bullock was hailed as the thinking man's starlet, a smart, tough wise-cracking throwback to Jean Arthur or Katherine Hepburn. And the residual good will of her "not a bimbo" persona still lingers on.
Well, no performer has done more to squander the public's good will than Sandra Bullock. In the decade and a half since Speed, she has accumulated a lifetime Rotten Tomatoes score of 28 (and that is helped by Oscar winner Crash in which she was only part of an ensemble.) Reading through the list of her films is like visiting the site of some epic, senseless battle and reciting the names of the fallen.
Read aloud with us then, the list of the films Sandra Bullock has inflicted upon society since her great moment (with Rotten Tomatoes scores): All About Steve (6), The Proposal (43), Premonition (8), The Lake House (36), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (14), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (44), Murder by Numbers (30), Miss Congeniality (40), 28 Days (30), Gun Shy (24), Forces of Nature (46), Practical Magic (21), Hope Floats (23), Speed 2: Cruise Control (2), In Love and War (12), Two If by Sea (12), The Net (30),
Simply awe-inspiring. Note that Bullock has appeared in three films that achieved Tomatoes scores of under ten, a fate that should not befall any actor more than once. (Nicole Kidman, for comparison sake, has made plenty of clunkers in her time but has never been in a movie that scored below 19.)]
Click here to read Defamer's article in it's entirety. It leads me to wonder how far a good attitude can take a woman. Is Bullock being rewarded her sweetness as much as Angelina Jolie used to be punished for her formerly overt sexuality? Does making other women comfortable equal bank?
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